How accurate are my laboratory tests?
1 comment July 28th, 2008
The first thing to consider is the kind of laboratory that will be testing your specimen. Most physician office laboratories run only simple tests and are exempt from the more stringent standards applied to hospital laboratories. There are no education or training requirements for the personnel in these labs, so ask your doctor how well his staff was trained to perform the tests. Also ask if the lab participates in any continuing education or proficiency testing programs. These actions indicate that the physician and his/her employees recognize the importance correctly performed laboratory tests play in their practice.
If your tests will be run by a larger, more complex laboratory, the lab is required to meet tighter Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) requirements, and participate in external accreditation by agencies such as the Joint Commission, the College of American Pathologists, or Committee on Laboratory Accreditation (COLA). Ask your doctor about what considerations went into his or her choice of the laboratory, how long he has been dealing with this laboratory, and how he verifies the accuracy of the test results. A pathologist (a physician known as “the doctor’s doctor”) should always be available to the ordering physician for consultation and interpretation of unusual or unexpected results.
Laboratory measurements have become highly reliable due to advances in instrumentation. However, the quality of the specimen (how well was it collected, stored, or transported? Was the patient properly instructed and was the sample positively identified?) may lead to abnormal or erroneous results that should be re-tested before medical decisions are made.
